by Shannen Anderson
Members of our Peterhead ASN Group have been learning about Fire Safety which led to a visit to the local Fire Station.
“Why are fire drills important?”
That’s the question we received from members of the Peterhead ASN Group when we conducted our last Fire Drill and that why our Senior Childcare Practitioner Shannon decided to speak to the experts.
The young people were curious to why we were doing fire drills. They were always asking why we do them and why they’re important, so I got in touch with the local fire station in Peterhead to ask if they could help us with our fire safety topic.
While organising to visit the fire station and for them to visit us, I created a safe fire safety activity for our primary group. Using shaving foam, orange, yellow and red paint to mimic fire and filled up water bottles and water guns for the young children to use to ‘put out the fire’.
The young children who got involved shared so much excitement, telling staff “look I got the fire”, “bye bye fire”, “look I did it”.
I also did a fire drill on the same day with the young children. To make it safe and calm the team used a soft tone in their voice to create sirens and called “fire, fire, we need to get out”.
All the young people reacted well.
When the young people attended the fire station, we were greeted by the Fire Brigade and taken into a room where they had kindly prepared a presentation suitable for the ages of the young people.
Everyone was able to get involved, to identify hazards, risks, answer questions and even take part in ‘stop, drop and roll’. We got a tour around the fire station and the young people got to try on some Fire Brigade gear to understand why it is important to wear it.
The young people also took part in a safe fire activity the fire brigade kindly organised for us, where they took turns to use the hose to control a ‘fire’ in a dolls house (the fire was painted on).
The primary group also got to participate in the same activity while the fire brigade visited us at Anna Ritchie School, and even got to sit inside the fire engine to see all the different equipment.
Through these experiences, the children and young people developed an understanding of why fire drills are important and how to stay safe in an emergency. They learned to identify potential hazards and how firefighters help keep people safe. The activities supported communication, confidence and teamwork, while also allowing the children to explore fire safety in a fun, engaging and age-appropriate way.
